CVS employees foil purse-snatching in freezer section, police say

(Palm Beach County Sheriff's…)

February 7, 2013|By Ed Komenda, Sun Sentinel

Police say Ricky Smith picked the wrong night to snatch a mother's purse at CVS — because two heroes were on the clock.

Alerted by the woman's screams, two store employees came to her rescue, tackling the 49-year-old man to the ground and keeping him there until the cops showed up, according to a Boynton Beach Police report.

It was just after 9 p.m. Wednesday when Gyasi Stevenson drove to the store in the 300 block of North Federal Highway.

She knew exactly what she wanted: a lasagna dinner for her 15-year-old daughter, who had a craving for a late-night snack. Stevenson left her daughter in the parked car and went inside.

Stevenson headed straight for the freezer section, looking through the glass for boxes of lasagna. When she found the dinners and opened the freezer door, police say Smith grabbed her $200 purse.

"Give me that purse!" Smith said, according to an arrest report.

"I looked at him," Stevenson said. "I thought it was a joke."

But Stevenson said she could tell Smith wasn't joking by the look in his eyes.

Smith pulled the purse hard. Stevenson pulled back. The tug-of-war last a few seconds before Smith ripped the purse off Stevenson's arm. Smith then turned and started running for the front door.

Stevenson thought about running after him, but she hesitated: she didn't know if he was armed.

"I wasn't willing to get stabbed or shot for the bag," Stevenson said.

Stevenson screamed.

That caught the attention of two store employees: 19-year-old Robert Estime and 33-year-old Givenchy Delva.

The two men tackled Smith and struggled to keep him down. The store's manager, whom police have not identified, told Stevenson to get behind the counter. There, she watched the men struggle with Smith.

Stevenson said Smith told the men to let him go, claiming he was innocent, that he didn't rob the woman in the freezer section.

"He was saying 'she gave me the bag,'" Stevenson said. "They were fighting. ... It was pretty scary."

Smith suffered cuts under his eye and on his head from the fight.

The flashing lights of cop cars soon flooded the parking lot, startling Stevenson's daughter, who remained in the car, unaware of what had happened to her mother inside the store.

Officers arrested Smith and booked him in the Palm Beach County Jail, charging him with robbery. Smith, who has been arrested 13 times since 1995 on various charges including robbery, remained in a jail cell Thursday without bond.

"[Smith] showed no remorse for the crime he had committed," an officer wrote in the report.

Stevenson said she didn't expect a couple of saviors to hear her screams in the freezer section.